Charges of Espionage - Court Martial Pending

Heroes Remember

Charges of Espionage - Court Martial Pending

Interviewer: During the Court Marshall itself, do you recall being asked questions by the Japanese officers? No, we were not talked, we were not, we certainly were not spoken to by the Japanese officers. Interviewer: Were statements read about your conduct? Statements were read in Japanese and they were not interpreted until it came to the point where they said we were being charged with an offence of espionage. Interviewer: After you were told that you were to be tried or charged with espionage, what happened then? Well, certainly Colonel Newnham, who was incidentally a very sick man at the time, and Captain Douglas Ford stood up and over their, over the court's objections, they insisted that Hardy and I, or the others involved, were ordered by them, given orders by them, to do what we were doing and that we were not personally responsible for, for the acts that we were accused of. Interviewer: What effect did that, did those statements have on the Japanese officers? Well, at that particular time, it had a, certainly looked, it appeared to look like they had a, a very adverse affect. Interviewer: Was a sentence passed down ultimately on you men? A sentence was passed down ultimately wherein Captain Ford and Colonel Newnham and... Interviewer: Flight Lieutenant Gray? Flight Lieutenant Gray, thank you, were all sentenced to death and the rest of us were sentenced to fifteen years hard labour. Imprisonment. Interviewer: Where did you go after you had been convicted? Back to Stanley Prison. Interviewer: Mr. Routledge, you mentioned to me that at your Court Marshall, that there were, that Colonel Newnham, Captain Ford, and Flight Lieutenant Gray had been sentenced to death. Yeah. Interviewer: What happened to them? They were shot and it's, that's one thing I do recall. It was the 18th of December that they were, they were executed.

Mr. Routledge and his comrades were again transferred, this time to the Gendarmes to be held for a Japanese Court Martial, which took place December 1, 1943. The outcome was staggering.

Ronald John Routledge

Mr. Routledge was born September 1, 1920. His father, a decorator by trade, was a member of the Regina Rifles and served in the First World War. Mr. Routledge came from a family of four children. He had three sisters, one older and two younger. His father encouraged him to join the Regina Rifles Regiment cadet program when he was 14. After completing high school, shortly before Canada declared war on Germany, he enlisted with the Regina Rifles. He enlisted with the artillery but soon switched to the Canadian Corps of Signals and trained as a wireless operator. In October, 1941, he and 32 other members of the Signals Corp were told they were headed overseas. They boarded a vessel in Vancouver, not knowing until they were near the Philippines that they were heading for Hong Kong. They eventually arrived in Hong Kong and were assigned to barracks at Shamshuipo. Mr. Routledge was wounded when the Japanese made their first attack on Shamshuipo in December, 1942. After spending time in hospital, he returned to continue his service as a wireless operator. He was taken POW on Boxing Day after the commanding officer of the troops on the Stanley Peninsula surrendered to the Japanese. Following his release at the end of the war, he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM), the second highest award for bravery in the British Empire. Mr. Routledge remained in the army as a career soldier.